


The Son of Glendower

by Bellesprit



Category: El Laberinto del Fauno | Pan's Labyrinth (2006), Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: (am I talking about raven boys canon or pans labyrinth ;)), Canonical Character Death, Gansey goes by the name Richard, Gen, also this story might not end how pans labyrinth ends, and not a lot of comforting, blue Ronan and Adam are all fairies, but it’s ok because he has henry, but it’s ok because he’s depressed, gansey and Noah used to be best friends, gansey is very ooc, gansey’s parents suck, i mean it’s pans labyrinth which is already depressing on its own, like at all, not historically accurate, the Gansey/Henry is implied, there is a lot of angst, theyre not really in it a lot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:15:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24167947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bellesprit/pseuds/Bellesprit
Summary: Richard Gansey the Third stumbles across a labyrinth in the middle of the woods that holds secrets about his past life and the world around him.
Relationships: (IMPLIED), (sort of) - Relationship, Henry Cheng/Richard Gansey III, Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish
Kudos: 1





	The Son of Glendower

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my second ever story! I hope you enjoy this depressing (but hopefully good) tale about magic and mystery.

Richard could see everyone’s pitying glances focused on him as he walked through the now silent hall of Aglionby high, backpack on shoulders and book brought up to his chest in a protective manner. He kept his immaculately coiffed head down so he had to occasionally push his thin rimmed glasses back up his nose as they kept slipping. A hand came up to his shoulder and Richard had to fight the urge to flinch.

“Hey, man,” the voice,  _ Kavinsky _ , said in a fake worried voice, “Are you gonna be alright? You’re not gonna kick the bucket too, are you?” Kavinsky’s goons all laughed around him and then they knocked Richard in the shoulders as they walked away.

Richard had hated Kavinsky since they were in elementary school. He always spent as much time as he could bullying and harassing him and Noa-  _ his friend _ . Richard had hoped that he would be off the hook for at least the day due to the… circumstance, but he could see that that wasn’t going to be the case. 

Richard spent the rest of his day in a sort of daze, luckily he didn’t encounter Kavinsky or any of his friends, but he also didn’t encounter anyone else… it seemed like everyone was keeping Richard, or Gansey as most were fond to call him, at a distance of ten feet if they could help it. He assumed that they didn’t want to catch his depression or something.

He couldn’t even find it in himself to enjoy his usually favorite class, Latin, but then again… he only really liked Latin because  _ his friend _ was in it. But now he wasn’t. And Richard felt more lost than he had ever felt in his whole life. 

As the day came to a close, the faint sounds of his classmates saying goodbye to each other were a sort of background noise in his head as he sat on the sidewalk near the road, waiting for someone to come and pick him up. Usually he would be just fine walking home, but his sister Helen had claimed that he was in no state to make the thirty minute trek by himself. Thus, Richard waited… and waited… and waited. He looked at his old watch and noticed that he had been sitting there for about an hour. 

Richard huffed and made to get up. He stopped, however, when he saw a group of boys approaching him. He prayed to God that it wasn’t Kavinsky and his friends. 

Luckily, as they got closer, Richard could tell that it was Henry Cheng and his posse. He breathed a sigh of relief and then stood up to greet this group. Richard wouldn’t go as far as to say that he was friends with Henry… but he  _ was _ one of the only people with explicit permission to call him by his first name instead of last, which was the tradition at Aglionby high. 

“Gansey, good to see you again” Henry exclaimed with a wide smile covering his face.

Richard stood up and responded, “Please don’t call me that.” Henry gave him a pitying look and then, to Richard’s surprise, went in and wrapped his arms around him in a surprisingly comforting hug. Their uniforms were itchy and uncomfortable, but the hug was nothing but warmth and comfort. Richard sank into the embrace for a second before pulling away hastily, a couple of tears falling down his face. 

“What are you still doing here Gan- Richard?” Henry asked, smile still big on his face.

“You know I could ask the same to you…” Richard started, “I, well, I was supposed to get picked up by my sister… but she didn’t show.” Henry scrunched his nose and gave him a knowing look at that. 

Henry Cheng was probably the only person alive who knew about Richard’s relationship with his family. It’s not like they were abusive or anything, they just… weren’t there. Richard had clear memories of his days as a toddler, which consisted of sitting by himself in a big room with a couple of toys while his parents were nowhere to be found. Occasionally their maid, Mercedes, would watch him, but for the most part he was all alone. And it hadn’t changed at all through the years. In fact, Richard barely ever saw his parents nowadays… not even at the funeral that had occured not even a week ago could he take comfort in his family. That was the main reason that Richard didn’t want to be called Gansey, it’s not that he didn’t like the name, it’s just that it felt fake, like it didn’t belong to him. 

Henry claimed he understood those feelings, but Richard couldn’t quite believe him since he distinctly remembers showing up to his 11th birthday party and seeing Mrs. Cheng conversing with the rest of the parents at the “punch” bowl. Of course, Mr. and Mrs. Gansey couldn’t bother to show up, they had much more important things to take care of. 

Richard sighed as he knelt down to pick up his bag and books that he had left on the sidewalk and started his long journey home. 

“Hey wait!” Henry yelled, running to catch up to Richard. “Do you need a ride? You know I don’t live that far away from you… it’d be no problem I swear.”

Richard looked behind him, expecting Henry’s friends looking at him with frustrated expressions as they realized they would have to take the depressed kid home with them, but to his surprise they had all left. It was just Richard and Henry and the empty world around them. 

Henry had his hand held out to Richard, his smile still plastered on his perfect, sun-kissed skin. Richard couldn’t help but grab his hand with a nod and be pulled to the car and whatever adventures awaited after. 

\---

Richard sat slumped in the passenger seat of Henry’s car as the radio softly played “today’s top hits” and Henry regaled him with the recent adventure he just took with his gang in France. As they got closer and closer to the street that both of their houses sat on, a gigantic bug landed on the windshield. Henry sighed with exasperation and moved his hand over to the windshield wiper button.

As Richard looked closer at the bug, he could see that it had an ugly face (like most bugs did, he found) but strangely beautiful blue eyes. They almost looked like human ey-- 

“Stop!” Richard yelled at Henry, startling him to pull over on the side of the road. 

“What is it?” Henry turned to look at Richard, just to see him throwing open the car door and running into the forest.

Henry swore to himself and then jumped out of the car to run after him, not before turning

back around and remembering to close the door again and lock it. 

Richard chased after the strange bug for what seemed like miles but couldn’t have been more than a couple feet. He could hear the sounds of footsteps following him loudly, but he was glad that he wasn’t going to be all alone for he was sure that he would get lost the second he couldn’t see the bug anymore.

The large insect started flying higher and higher and Richard’s gaze followed it until it flew above the treetops and was lost to him forever. 

“Woah,” Henry started, “Richard, where are we?”

Richard looked back to see Henry staring at something a short distance ahead of the two of them. He turned back around to see the sight of a massive stone labyrinth coming out of the ground. 

The labyrinth looked to be very old with vines crawling everywhere around it’s tall walls. Richard had been living in Henrietta for his whole life and he had never even heard of the existence of this beautiful piece of architecture. Maybe it was private property? Before he could tell Henry that maybe they were trespassing, Henry had walked through the stone archway into the beginning of the maze. 

“What are you doing?!” Richard exclaimed, already in the process of running up to Henry to try and pull him out of the entranceway. 

From far away from the archway, Richard could see that there were words writing on it in a strange alphabet. However, as he got nearer to try and pull Henry out, the words started to slowly change until they resembled a language that Richard understood. It read:

“Mundus Vult Decipi”  _ The World Wants to Be Deceived _ . 

Richard didn’t have much time to reflect on the meaning of those words, for when he looked down, Henry was already gone from his view, seemingly further into the labyrinth. Richard had no choice but to follow his friend in, all the while staring at the ornate wall that seemed to be covered with those strange symbols that transformed into Latin anytime he got close enough to read them. 

Richard was so distracted reading the signs that he didn’t notice that Henry had stopped in front of him, so he ran into his back. 

“Sorry…” Richard started but then stopped when he looked over Henry’s shoulders to see what he was staring at. It was a large door that seemed to block their path from going any further into the immense labyrinth. 

Henry went up to it and attempted to pull and then push it open, but it was locked. There was an obvious keyhole, but it was so large that neither of the boys could imagine any sort of key being able to fit into it. Henry turned back to look at Richard, seemingly disappointed that they couldn’t get this mysterious door to open.

“How did you know that this would be here?” Henry asked Richard with his brows slightly furrowed.

“What? You’re the one who led us to the door…”

“No, not the door. How did you know to find this labyrinth in the middle of the forest? Do you have any weird hobbies that I should know about?” Henry's smile was slowly starting to return to his face. 

Richard looked away from his friend, he didn’t think he could make eye contact as he said this, “This is gonna sound strange but… I just followed that strange insect that landed on your windshield.”

Henry gave Richard a strange look before simply asking, “Why?”

“It… well I… its eyes reminded me of Noah’s, the blue color was exactly the same.”

“Oh Richard,” Henry looked at him pityingly and then went in as if to give him a hug, but Richard took a step back.

“We should probably start to head back,” Richard said, wiping the few tears that had managed to escape his eyes. 

“Sure.”

Henry took the lead again and the two started their trek back out to the woods. As they were walking, a slight metallic glint caught Richard’s eyes and he looked to see a strange metal object poking out of the vines growing on the walls. He glanced up to see that Henry had already turned the corner and was out of his view, so Richard quickly grabbed the object and stuffed it into his pant’s pocket, not having enough time to see what it was. Then he once again began to shuffle his way towards real life and the misery it brought. 

\---

It seemed that Henry and Richard had been in the labyrinth for longer than they thought, for when they emerged out of the archway, the sun was already beginning to set on the horizon. The two quickly got into the car and drove the last five minutes it took to arrive at Richard’s large and stately house. Richard thanked Henry for the ride and then opened the door to his house, not at all surprised to smell dinner and hear the clanging of silverware on plates. He entered the dining room to see his parents and sister eating already. 

“Oh there you are, Richard dear,” His mother exclaimed, not even bothering to stand up and greet him. But at least she spoke to him, his father and sister didn’t even look up from the very heated argument they seemed to be having. “I hope that you already ate dinner, since we only ordered enough for the three of us.” 

Richard just nodded and walked past the dining room towards the staircase and his bedroom where he would most likely be spending the rest of his night. As he ascended the stairs, he tripped over what seemed to be a book on one of the steps, and fell hard. He hit his knee and something sharp bit into his thigh. He finished the climb and when he got into his bedroom he tore off his pants to the sight of a small cut where that metal object he forgot was in his pocket cut him. 

He grabbed a small bandage and placed it on his leg, then he removed the thing from his pant’s pocket. 

It was a key. 

\---

Richard spent the rest of the evening in his room, finishing up his homework and then when that was done, reading from his favorite book he pulled off his shelf. It was a collection of multiple different Welsh mythology stories. Richard knew that he recognized the writing on the walls in the labyrinth, that is before it turned into Latin, and his suspicions were confirmed by the book. It was written in old Welsh.

When he heard the indistinguishable sound of his parents door closing and locking (their room was just two doors down from Richard’s own) he slipped a jacket over his school uniform and quietly placed his shoes. He then walked out into the hallway and carefully shut his door, determined not to wake up anyone, but then again it probably wouldn’t have mattered if he did. They wouldn’t care where he was going. 

As Richard got outside, the cool air biting at his nose and ears, he tried to remember just where exactly the labyrinth was in the forest. He didn’t have to think for much longer because just then, another one of those large insects flew in front of his face. This one also had blue eyes, but they seemed to be paler than the ones before. 

“Are you a fairy?” Richard asked it, remembering some of the pictures he had seen in his Welsh story book.  _ Tylwyth Teg _ was the Welsh name for fairies. 

To his surprise, the insect started transforming. It was a sort of gruesome scene as it’s body started to grow arms and legs and it’s wings bending and twisting until it became that of a fairy’s. It looked similar to a normal human, the only differences being obviously it’s height and wings, but also the more angular and imp-like features of its face. It had stunning blue eyes that stood out against its pale skin, and his head seemed to be completely shaved of hair. Although, Richard had never seen a fairy before, so he didn’t know if that was a normal sight.

Richard held up his hand with wide eyes and the fairy landed in his outstretched palm. 

“Can you speak?” Richard asked the newly transformed creature. 

The fairy, instead of answering, took off from his hand and started flying into a direction near the woods. When he realized that Richard wasn’t following he turned back around and pulled on his hair, trying to get him to follow. 

Richard had to run to keep up with the quick flying creature, but no matter how fast he went, the fairy always had to turn back around and pull on his hair to make sure he was going in the right direction. Eventually they made it back to the labyrinth that he and Henry had discovered. 

Trying to catch his breath, Richard slowly made his way through the winding paths of the maze, until he reached the door from before. Instead of simply trying to open it again through force, Richard slipped the key from his pocket and placed it into the keyhole, hearing a satisfying click as it turned. Richard pushed the door open and was met with the sight of a beautiful spring and flowers and trees. It was almost like a secret garden. 

As he made his way through the brightly colored lavender and roses, Richard came across an ominous looking hole in the ground. As he neared it, he could tell it was extremely deep due to the fact that he could barely see even five feet into it. There was, however, a spiraling staircase that went around the perimeter of it, so he slowly started descending into the stone steps. 

Surprisingly, the hole wasn’t as large as he originally believed it to be, and he reached the bottom in a relatively quick amount of time. Richard was also astounded to see that although it looked dark from above, he could actually see everything at the bottom of the cavern with great clarity, almost as if the sun were shining directly into it. 

As he looked around the massive clearing, Richard noticed a large stone sticking out of the center. When he approached it, a faint painting could be made out of the obviously worn-down rock. It seemed to depict a boy, not much older than Richard himself, holding in his arms a strangely deformed baby. It’s head was much too big for his too skinny frame, and strangely enough, in his hands, the baby held what looked to be some sort of precious jewels. The boy in the picture looked to be dressed in some sort of medieval style garb, like the kind one would expect King Arthur to wear. 

As Richard was observing the stone, he heard an ominous knocking sound coming from behind him. He quickly whirled around to see a short man with thin arms and legs, carrying in one hand a beautifully crafted metal cage that held more fairies, and in the other a giant staff, it had to be twice the size of the man himself. The  _ tylwyth teg _ that had led Richard to the labyrinth flew out of nowhere, onto the shoulder of the man who put down his staff and placed him into the cage in his hand. 

“Who are you?” Richard asked him. 

The man looked up as if he had just noticed that there was another person in this cavern. To Richard’s surprise, the strangely shaped creature knelt down on one knee.

“Your highness, you have finally arrived.” The man began, “You may call me  _ Coblynau _ for I do not have a name, but that is what my people are called.”

A gnome. The  _ coblynau _ were what the ancient Welsh people called gnomes that helped miners. Richard was able to recognize that, but he still wasn’t quite sure what was going on. 

“Why did you call my ‘your highness’” Richard asked, “I’m just a boy who happened to stumble upon this labyrinth.”

“No, no, no,” the  _ coblynau _ began, “you are anything but a normal boy. I have been looking for you for centuries upon centuries and finally, here you are. And I had lost all hope, the rest of my kind had all left this Earth, believing that their quest was a lost cause. But not I, sire, never I. I would have continued searching for you until my own dying day.” 

Richard was still confused, “But I don’t understand, if I’m not a normal boy, then who am I?” 

“Let me regale you with a story. Once upon a time there was a great king named Owain Glyndŵr. He had a son who he loved more than anything else in his world, and his people also took delight in this child who was so brave and intelligent but also so kind. In fact, he helped to raise me and took care of me like I was his own family.

“Not only was this boy intelligent, but he also had a thirst for knowledge that could never be quenched, regardless of how many stories were told to him of distant lands or books given to him of exotic peoples. Therefore, one day this prince found an entrance to the other world-- which is what you would call Earth. He crossed the barrier and found himself in an unforgivable place where no one cared for him. He was stuck to defend himself, but he was just a child, easily taken advantage of. Thus, when me and the other  _ coblynau _ came to search for him, he was long since mutilated and dead. 

“It was a day of great loss and mourning in our world, and we feared that our great king would never be the same again. But then an incredible prophecy came out, that our prince would be reincarnated on the Earth, for although his body was dead, his soul was still connected to our world and was thus still alive. So we were sent to this world to find the prince so that we may bring him back home to his family. Oh the king will be so glad that we found you.”

Richard looked at him with shock, there was no way that this was real… but then… he never really did feel like he belonged here, maybe it was because he actually didn’t. Maybe this would be his chance to finally find a family that cared about him. He could leave all of his fears and sadness here, and start a new life.

“But,” the  _ coblynau _ began, interrupting Richard’s thoughts “I cannot take you with me yet.” 

“Well why not?” Richard asked, confused.

“We must be certain that you are actually the prince of which I spoke. I am sure you are but this will be the very last trip back to my world. If it turns out that by some random mistake you are not royalty, then the real prince will be lost to this world and it’s cruelties forever. You must prove that you are as intelligent, brave, and kind as the prince was.” 

Richard, already prepared to leave this world behind, exclaimed loudly, “What must I do? Whatever it is, I will gladly complete it.”

“I was hoping that you would say that,” the  _ coblynau _ said with a smile beginning to form on his face. He reached behind him and seemed to pull a book out of thin air. “In this book you will see the three tasks that you must complete in order to prove your worth as a prince, the son of Owain Glyndŵr. But you must be careful to be completely alone while you are reading it.”

Richard reached out with shaky but eager hands to grab the book that the  _ coblynau _ had outstretched. He held it up to his chest as the creature continued his musings. 

“You will have until the next full moon to complete these tasks, and then I will be able to take you away from your life here into where you really belong.” Richard did some quick calculations in his head and determined that the next full moon was only a week away. His eyes widened as he realized that this quest would be much more difficult than he originally believed.

The  _ coblynau _ gave him a pitying look as he noticed the worry that Richard had painted all over his face and smiled reassuringly as he said, “Do not worry, my prince, I will help you as much as I can. You will not be all alone in this journey. Good luck and may fortune always smile on you.”

With that, the  _ coblynau _ left with his cage full of  _ tylwyth teg  _ and Richard was plunged into darkness. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed and if you did please comment! Also none of this is historically accurate so don’t come at me ;)


End file.
